Januik Winery Columbia Valley Merlot 1999

About the Region

This large viticultural area, covering about 11 million acres with some 17,000 acres of vines, extends over a large part of central and southern Washington (and over the border slightly into Oregon). It lies at the same latitude as Bordeaux and Burgundy, with numerous soil types and microclimates, and grows all the usual suspects, with cabernet sauvignon and other Bordeaux grapes and, more surprisingly, the red Rhône varieties, doing particularly well.

Also in the Region

Merlot

An early-ripening grape that generally produces soft, aromatic wines, merlot has become the most widely planted red-wine grape in France — where it is famous above all as a constituent of Bordeaux blends, particularly in the so-called Right Bank wines of Pomerol and Saint-Émilion (one of the most revered and expensive of all Bordeaux, Château Pétrus, from Pomerol, is almost 100 percent merlot). The grape has also become important in California, both as a single varietal and as a part of so-called Meritage, or Bordeaux-like, blends. Merlot is also common in southern France, Italy's Friuli region, Chile, the Italian-Swiss canton of Ticino (where it is sometimes made in a "white" style, reminiscent of white zinfandel), Australia and New Zealand, Eastern Europe, and more.